Two people were injured on Sunday as a wildfire renewed for the fourth day in the Jabal al-Hasin forests in the heights of the Akkar region of Mount Akroum, the National News Agency reported.

It said Abdullah Habib Khodr and Khaled Ahmed Hussein Bou Ali were injured as they were trying to extinguish flames.

“There are no routes that the firefighting vehicles can use to reach the area of the blaze and residents are trying by all means to douse the fire that keeps renewing due to the high temperatures and the dry winds that are lashing the region,” NNA said.

The Civil Defense announced later in the day that an army helicopter had been called in to assist the firefighting crews in dousing the blaze.

Ali Isber, the head of the Jabal Akroum municipal union, had earlier urged authorities to send military helicopters to contribute to the firefighting operations, lamenting that “Akroum has been burning for four days and the distress calls of the residents and municipalities are falling on deaf ears.”

“The blaze has caused extensive damage to the environment and habitat of this region and the situation will deteriorate further should our appeals remain unheeded,” Isber warned.

http://www.naharnet.com/stories/en/214794-2-hurt-as-wildfire-renews-in-mount-akroum-s-heights